Foldable umbrellas are known in the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,069 to Glatz shows a standing umbrella with a mast, a movable carrier beam, and a connecting strut linking the mast and the carrier bean. A drive mechanism folds the carrier beam relative to the mast, and opens and closes the umbrella. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,585 to May shows an umbrella with a mast, an elongated boom, and a fitting located on the mast that slidably receives the boom. A foldable canopy forming an umbrella is connected to one end of the elongated boom.
One drawback associated with these and other prior art umbrellas is the complexity of the mast and associated supporting frame members and connectors. Having more than one supporting frame member requires correspondingly complex drive mechanisms and also increases the likelihood that an individual component will fail thereby rendering the umbrella assembly inoperable. Moreover, relatively complex supporting frame structures and drive mechanisms increase manufacturing cost, and ultimately increase consumer cost.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome these and other drawbacks and disadvantages of the prior art.